Touch Sick
by Marina Lenore
Summary: People need to be touched in order to be happy. But what happens when Sarah is denied such a basic need for humans?


Sarah never knew why she had been so certain that the strange affliction that plagued her from the moment she left the Labyrinth was not Jareth's fault, but from the moment it was discovered, she had known with all of her being that as cruel as he had been to her that night, he would never be so cruel as to deny her something so very necessary to a happy life. Not in such a violent and painful manner. This was even if he had the ability to do so, which he didn't any more, considering she had taken away any power he had over her. Even without that, however, Sarah would have still been absolutely certain that it was not his fault. He might be cruel but he also _loved_ her and that fact had been slammed into her after her rejection of him.

And she had known right from the beginning that whatever had been done to her to cause such a change had been done to prevent just that, to cause her to lose her happiness; for Sarah, even at the tender age of nearly-sixteen, had known how intrinsic touch was to humans.

When Sarah woke up after her wild party was over, she had felt refreshed, rejuvenated, and revitalised. She had woken up without any prompting from either her stepmother or her alarm clock, and upon looking at the time, had decided that turning over a new leaf was best to be gotten over with quickly rather than slowly. Ten hours of danger, trials, and her dreams come true had changed her from a spoiled brat of a girl who preferred to live with her head in the clouds to a responsible young adult who still had some growing up to do, knew magic existed and would _never_ forget that, and had bridges to mend because she wanted to be happy, rather than choosing to be miserable all the time.

It wasn't an easy thing to decide, despite her experiences, but that was more because she had decided to go straight to the person harmed most by her actions and apologise, and apologising for acting in a way you didn't even know you were acting was never an easy thing. Sarah had previously thought she'd handled the divorce, remarriage, and birth of a younger half-brother rather well for a pre-teen and teenager, but clearly she hadn't. Not if she'd thrown a bratty little tantrum and nearly thrown her half-brother away.

One of the things Jareth had shown her was how immature she was – for all the wisdom she carried in her soul, she still had some maturing to do. He hadn't once lied to her, after all, she knew he was above such things, despite her accusations; although it'd taken until the very end for her to learn that. Half-truths and manipulations, tricks and teases, using truths to make things seem opposite to how they were, those were all he needed to get his way, never outright lies. Because she had realised at the end that he was fae, rather than some sort of special goblin: fae couldn't outright lie.

Sarah knew that she couldn't take all the stories for granted, because humans embellished things all the time, but that little fact was something she had known was nothing less than the truth the very first time she read it. Not with her mind, but with her soul. Knowing how immature she was had been the reason she didn't call on him immediately to figure out what was wrong – Sarah had denied his offer in the end more because she knew that as much as she wanted it, she wasn't _ready_ for it, yet, and it would be grossly unfair to take him up on it when she wouldn't be able to match up with him yet. She loved him with a child's love. He deserved a woman's love. She wouldn't subject him to having salt rubbed into his wound like that; Sarah might be cruel, but she was not _that_ cruel.

But that was getting past the issue. Back to where she was. It hadn't taken long to get through her morning routine and then gather Toby up for his. Karen didn't need to be wrestling with a toddler every morning, and Sarah knew that he would be less fussy and more obedient to her from now on, just like she would love him more and be more willing to take care of him from now on. When Toby was eating and Karen had called cautiously down the stairs, Sarah smiled and called back up, "I got Toby up this morning, Karen. I figured you could use a break, especially since you were up so late last night. Um… could we talk for a minute, please, while Toby is still eating?"

Karen's response was to head down the stairs, and Sarah steeled herself, letting the words she needed come to her. She'd always been good with words, but that only meant that the wounds she could make with them cut deeper.

When her stepmother finally entered the dining room, Sarah took a deep breath, and began. "I had an eventful night last night, and learned some things about myself that need to be rectified immediately, because they're hurting other people. Mainly you. First off I want to apologise to you. I'm really, incredibly sorry I treated you like a villain all this time. Nothing bad that happened to me is your fault. I've been an unappreciative, spoiled brat, and I promise to try and do better. No more blaming you, no more blaming Toby. I… I'd really like to start over, if that's okay with you. If… If you'll agree, that is?"

The response she had gotten from Karen told her that her decision to verbally act upon her new found maturity was the right one to make, as her stepmother had teared up and nodded, opening her arms for a hug that Sarah had stepped into easily.

Neither of them could have predicted what happened next.

The moment that Karen touched her, Sarah had cried out in absolute agony, fallen to the floor, and begun violently heaving, her stomach rebelling at the touch and emptying itself of the water she had drank earlier that morning and a fair amount of stomach acid. It had taken ages to be done with, and Sarah had been sobbing by the time it was over with, Karen hovering concernedly over her. At least she knew better than to touch Sarah again.

Sarah had looked up to see her father watching wide eyed in the doorway, and before she or Karen could warn him against it, he had come to his daughter and touched her shoulder, asking if she was okay. The action had led to another cry of pain and more heaving, after Sarah had violently torn herself away from him. This time there was nothing to come up, however, which made the entire experience acutely more miserable for her. By the time she was done, both her father and her stepmother had called out of work, called her in sick to the school, and made an emergency appointment with the family doctor. Once her sobbing had stopped, the enormity of what was happening to her had slammed into her gut, and she had desperately gotten herself up and hugged Toby, who she had been interacting with all morning with no problem whatsoever. To the relief of everyone in the room, nothing adverse happened, and nobody had complained when she insisted on being the one to buckle her little brother into his car seat as they headed to the doctor.

Sarah did not want to go to the doctor. She wasn't looking forward to this because she knew that it wouldn't be easily explained away. There would be no cure for this. Something having to do with her experiences Underground in the Labyrinth had caused this new problem she was having, and how could she could explain anything about that without being locked in a loony bin?

* * *

Sure enough, the doctor had determined there was nothing physical causing the problem, gotten them in to see his preferred shrink, and Sarah had spent an agonising hour dancing around the subject and using her acting skills and skills with words to keep from spilling her adventures in the Underground from the very persuasive therapist.

In the end they had determined that the problem was psychosomatic – something physical aggravated by mental stress or illness. They did not think she was mentally ill – of course not, since she had carefully kept her experiences running the Labyrinth to rescue Toby from an all-too-real illusory foe out of sight – but that her "random" insight into her character had triggered something that set off a physical reaction to other people's touch. Sarah, wisely, did not make any arguments against this, placidly agreed with all of their suggestions, and left for home weary and ragged from too many heaving fits when someone had not known or accidentally forgotten that she was not to be touched. It turned out that it was only _intentional_ touches that set off her fits of illness – unintentional touches made her nauseous but were barely tolerable.

* * *

In the end Sarah had been pulled out of high school and enrolled into a system where she met with a tutor each day of the week and turned her homework in at the end of each week.

After that, life passed by in a haze. The lack of touch from anyone else around her drew her to Toby more closely than ever, treasuring everything about the toddler, even his rare screaming and hitting fits, because at least then she could feel the warmth of a human body against hers without feeling sick.

It had taken several months before her family became used to not touching her in any way whatsoever – several agonizingly painful months that led her to wonder what she had done (aside from the soul-deep agony she had caused Jareth) to merit such a punishment from whatever had done this to her. It would have been easier if she simply could not feel other people's touches, rather than becoming violently ill from them.

After she finished high school, she applied for a job at the library – she was very familiar to them, knew the system as if she had been one of the librarians already, and the Head Librarian was looking to retire. Not to mention they didn't interact much with other people excepting to take their books and check them out, requiring no human touch.

She was granted the position almost immediately, but despite explaining her problem to all of the librarians, she she still cautiously ate and drank nothing before her first day of work, and didn't bring lunch. It was a good thing – knowing about a problem and learning how to cope with it were two wildly different things. It took almost a week before the librarians had trained themselves to call out to her instead of touching her, but once that week was over things were peachy keen.

Well, excepting the perpetual depression that plagued her any time she was not around Toby, who was growing up _so fast_. His blue eyes were wise, and he demanded her as often as he possibly could, as if even though he was young, he could tell that he was the only human keeping her sane.

She visited with her friends from the Underground as often as possible, because, just as with Toby, she could touch them and not get sick. They did little to lift her depression, however, because the one person she wanted to see the most, she did not feel ready to call upon just yet.

* * *

Watching her friends drift away and give up hurt, but at the same time, Sarah had known that it was fairly inevitable. They couldn't touch her without making her pained and sick, and the entire situation was making her more and more depressed and hopeless as time went by.

Jessica left first, gently telling Sarah that she simply couldn't handle not being able to comfort her friend; she was the one who always tried to lift Sarah's spirits the most often, and tried to stave off her depression. The fact that nothing helped was wearing on her, and Sarah didn't want to cause her friend any more friend than she was already in, so she let her go.

Terrence was the next to leave her – before she met Jareth they had thought about dating and… well he tried but she was irrevocably in love with Jareth and his attempts to rekindle things were painful enough that she was more relieved than anything else when he left.

Kristen was the last one who left and hers was because she was an incredibly tactile person, and watching how her actions affected Sarah – she kept hoping beyond belief that she could somehow overcome this issue – eventually became more painful than she could handle.

Soon enough her high school friends all abandoned her. And Sarah was unsure if she was more relieved or more depressed at their absence.

* * *

A brush against her shoulder as someone reached over her to grab something from the shelf above. An accidental bump when an elder lady who hadn't been watching carefully slid against her side. A sudden crowd where she was being jostled from all sides. Fingertips brushing her own as she politely handed someone an item that they were looking for.

By the time Sarah got home from her shopping trip it was all she could do to collapse on the floor, sobbing as her stomach roiled from all the _touches_ that made her so _sick_. It was half an hour before she could gather the strength to stand up and put away her groceries, after which she immediately called for her friends. They all tumbled out of her large mirror and surrounded her, giving her a _safe_ , _secure_ embrace. No worries about throwing up or dry-heaving. No worries about unbearable nausea. Hoggle softly asked, "Shopping day, Lady Sarah?"

She nodded mutely and let her friends comfort her, until she had to sleep, alone in her too-large bed, wondering what she had done to deserve this while knowing, deep down, that she did deserve this, if only for what she'd done to Jareth before she left him.

* * *

Work at the library was dull, but somewhat fulfilling. She got to read whenever she wanted, thoroughly enjoyed the before or after hours work of putting the books back in their places, and loved being able to help people find the books they were looking for. Even so… It had its downsides. People inevitably touched her when she was leading them to their books, which frequently evolved into her having heaving fits. After a year or so, the regulars had gotten used to not touching her, but the new folks inevitably set her off at least once a week. She had taken to not eating meals during the days she worked, as unhealthy as it was, just because otherwise she would be vomiting too regularly to get the smell out of the carpets.

Her apartment was small and comfortable – and most of all, private. She had no neighbours to bother her about the noise that inevitably happened when she got home, her crying and sobbing from nausea and stomach pain, as well as her calling out to her friends to comfort her after her inevitable fits.

Visiting her family and babysitting Toby was the only bright spot in her life, the only time she really felt alive any more, stuck in the haze of depression like she was.

* * *

Sarah was twenty four when she realised that she was not maturing any more now, and that it was time to face the consequences of her actions. Before she called for the only person she would ever love – the person who had turned the world upside down for her, reordered time for her, matured her in ways that she needed, played the villain when she wanted one despite wishing to do anything but that to her, and despite all of her cruel demands (even perhaps because of them) loved her without fail and without judgement – she prayed. Prayed for what she dared not wish for; wishes were dangerous and she wanted honesty more than forced love. Then she called for him, carefully wording her wish so that it was no kind of demand.

"I wish that Jareth, the Goblin King, would come and talk to me, at his convenience."

Sarah had expected to be forced to wait, just like she had forced him to wait for her to finish growing up, but as soon as the words exited her mouth, he appeared before her, lounging in her recliner as if it were a throne, looking at her with…

Her breath caught. He still, after all this time, loved her. And there was not an ounce of anger or blame in his gaze. How was that even _possible_? She had _seen_ the agony in his eyes before she was swept back away to her home Aboveground. By all rights he should utterly _loathe_ her right now! Her hand instinctively reached out, before she caught herself and withdrew it. Jareth, however, it seemed, was not about to have that, as he caught her hand and laced their fingers together with a husky whisper of her name. "Sarah."

There was no question, no accusation, only a promise of answers. "Jareth… I'm sorry I made you wait so long."

He shook his head, tightening his fingers around her hand. "You were so very young when I made that offer, and the spell you directed at yourself once you rejected me and took my power over you told me that you regretted every single action against me and against yourself."

He was talking about her cruelty, which his eyes spoke that he still loved her for. He was talking about her forcing him into the position of villain. How she constantly forced his hand, forced him to make things harder on her with her taunting… Which, after he made his last speech to her, she realised she was speaking to a _fae_ , not a _goblin_ , that he couldn't possibly have lied to her once during this entire affair, that many things had been insinuated rather than promised ( _he never told her he would turn Toby into a goblin, she'd just assumed_ ), that he hadn't meant any of his veiled threats, that she was never honestly in danger because he _loved her_ … Never in her life had she felt so guilty and unworthy of someone as she had at that moment. She had held him up to impossible expectations, and still he loved her after all of that.

Her voice broke, tears flowing down her face as she asked him, "How could you ever forgive me after everything I did to you?"

His eyes bored into hers, filled with a gentleness and vague pain that she had, at one point in time, thought him incapable of. "I had no power to come to you, but I could still watch over you, to see what you did to yourself. It was quite a powerful spell that you levelled at yourself, after all, and I wished to see the effects of it."

Sarah's mind finally caught up with what he had said earlier with his repetition of the words. Sarah had done this. Sarah had maliciously punished herself, using the power that Jareth had gifted to her, for rejecting him that night. She bit her lip and swallowed. "Did it satisfy you?"

"It made me realise that you didn't just regret hurting me, but that you loved me back. There was no other reason to punish yourself in such a viciously painful manner."

They were silent for a few moments, Sarah not knowing what to say to that – what did he even mean by that? He saw fit to answer her after a few moments. "I am cruel, just as you accused me of being – and just as you yourself are. Our cruelty has been honed by different things. If you had been happy, if everything had worked out for you without any setbacks… No doubt I would have resented you. Held onto my pain. Seeing you that morning, being so mature and then moments later sobbing on the ground in undeniable agony from punishing yourself worse than I could ever have punished you… Watching as you became depressed and isolated from others of your kind… It hurt, but it also soothed. It was reassuring, if still painful to watch."

Sarah would have wrapped her arms around herself, but Jareth was not letting go of her hand, holding it in an iron grip. "I knew that I deserved it. I didn't know anything except that it could not possibly be your fault, that it had to be my fault, and even though I didn't know why I deserved it, beyond my rejection of you, I knew that I deserved every bit of agony."

Jareth growled then and yanked on her arm, grabbing around her waist and pulling her flush against him, settled into his lap and lounging in her recliner. "No you did _not_. One day I will get you over your guilt complex – you could not have accepted my offer and you had to take my power over you to protect me from additional pain, for otherwise I would have stalked instead of watched. That would have hurt me far worse."

Sarah let his words settle into her mind and relaxed into him, revelling in an adult touch that did not make her violently ill, or even uncomfortably nauseous. Jareth broke the silence again. "I want to hear you say it."

She knew what he wanted, and obliged him. "I love you so much it hurts, Jareth. It took every ounce of my willpower not to call you before I was ready to take you up on your offer, assuming you even still wanted me."

She could feel his content satisfaction at her words as his breath grazed against her ear. "What do you want to do, then, Precious?"

 _Precious_ … Even after everything she had done to both of them… No human male could ever love her as much as Jareth could. Sarah was luckier than she deserved. "You are my equal, my match, the only person who has ever dared challenge me in my own element. I knew from the moment I saw you that we were meant to be together."

That was why then, why he had made her that offer despite knowing she was too young to take him up on it. "I loved you from the moment I saw you too. You were frightening, terrible, cruel, and still I knew that I would regret it forever if I let you out of my life, but… You deserved all of me, not a half-formed young woman who had a lot of growing up to do."

He rested his cheek against hers. "I know that now. I probably knew that back then too, or my resentment would not have faded so swiftly."

Sarah contemplated his earlier words. "Even if it weren't for the touching sickness, I haven't belonged in this world since I left your world. And I never saw what it really looked like, only what you made it look like to fulfil my wishes for an adventure against an undeserving villain. But Toby…"

Jareth nodded understandingly. She had given up her love for her soul mate to save her little brother, and he had been the only thing keeping her sane for years now. "You can still visit. As often as you want… but you will not age any more. You're already touched by the Labyrinth and the magic I gave to you. You have not aged a second since you reached your full maturity."

She turned to face him curiously, in awe that after so short a time he had brought back that aspect of her personality; she hadn't felt curious about anything in over five years! "Am I no longer human then?"

"The process takes a few decades to complete, but you are on your way to not being human any more. I marked you as my Queen and the magic has been shaping you to suit your role ever since. Largely your own magic; separating you from the humans around you, getting you used to not being around your own kind… It has sped up the process remarkably. My precious, special, stubborn, cruel Sarah."

She _was_ cruel. Forcing those around her to witness her agony was not a _nice_ thing to do to other people. Forcing her family and few friends to draw away from her, watching as she fell into depression, knowing that she was resigned to her existence like this, seeing in her eyes that she felt she deserved this punishment… It had been terribly cruel of her, although it had also, in its own way, been necessary. They suited each other so well; either unknowingly cruel or cruel because of necessity – never cruel to purposely harm others unless those others _deserved_ it.

"Can I tell my father and stepmother the truth? Nobody else will care too much if I up sticks and move, but they deserve to know. Before you ask, Toby remembers. He often plays with the others when he is over at my apartment here and I have them over."

He nodded softly. "I'll give them the proof they will need. Even if they react negatively I can modify their memories to something acceptable."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. She didn't deserve him at all. "Don't even think about saying it, Sarah. We deserve each other, wholly and unreservedly."

Sarah flushed at him reading her so well, before settling in closer to him. His hands were trailing over her stomach under her shirt, sending heat and tingles throughout her body, making her shiver lightly. It was wonderful to be touched so intimately. Jareth more than loved her – he wanted and desired her. More than that, too. He cherished her. Despite the reactions she was having to his touches, he was doing this to reassure and comfort her, not to make her desire him. Sarah had never expected such kindness from him, and she found tears swarming in her eyes and her breathing getting more ragged. Jareth seemed to understand what she was feeling, this conglomeration of gratitude and awe and self-loathing, and he whispered into her ear, his breath brushing over the delicate, sensitive shell. "Stop punishing yourself, beloved mine. You cannot reverse the spell, but you can stop the rest of it, Precious Sarah. Let it go. You have punished yourself for more than long enough."

That was enough and she began sobbing, letting go of the depression and pain, letting go of being so isolated and alone, letting go of her regret and her feelings of deserving what she received from what turned out to be herself. Jareth whispered comforting words into her ear as she finally allowed herself to release some of the pain and depression.

When she finished, he turned her head to the side and kissed her; so gently, so sweetly, but with a dangerous edge that told her this gentleness would not last for long, which she relished. She loved him because he was dangerous, she wanted all of him, even though it would be too much for her now – she would do her damnedest to get better as fast as she could. He said she was his match and she believed him; after all, her isolation had _depressed_ her, not _destroyed_ her.

The kiss was too short, so she pulled him back and kissed him this time around, determined and refusing to back down. Of course, by the time her kiss had ended he was smirking smugly at her, "Something tells me you will adjust well."

She nodded fiercely, "I won't have it any other way."

Jareth spoke up again, this time changing the subject, "When should we meet with your parents?"

Sarah hummed, "This weekend I am supposed to babysit Toby for them. So in two days. I'm calling and quitting my job tomorrow. Would… Would it be too much to ask for you to-"

She was interrupted with a short, but consumingly possessive, kiss. Then he growled lowly to her. "I will not be leaving your side for the next _decade_ , Queen of mine."

She sat up then, and tugged on his wrist. He obligingly got up and followed her into her bedroom. Sarah's depression had stripped away her body-shyness so she carelessly undressed once they got there, and slipped into the sports bra and short shorts that were her usual sleeping outfit, before sliding into her bed. He slid in shortly after her, wrapping his arms around her in a comforting and possessive gesture, his hands sliding over the bare skin of her stomach as he pressed her against his equally bare chest. "I love you, Sarah. You are mine for the rest of eternity."

She smiled and relaxed into him, yawning from the exhausting ride her emotions had taken her on and her world being turned upside down. "It's only forever… not long at all."

She could feel him smiling against the back of her neck before he nipped her shoulder. "Sleep. I will not leave you."

Normally Sarah would have rebelled at such an order, but she knew that for the next year or so, she would have to fight to regain the spirit that had been subdued – but not lost. And Jareth knew this as surely as she did, she knew he was looking forward to her future stubbornness, disobedience, and challenge. For now however, she just wanted to do whatever he wished of her, and so she fell into the best sleep she had experienced in some just over eight years.

* * *

Robert and Karen Williams were most surprised when Sarah showed up at the door with Jareth – his arm holding her snugly into his side with no negative reactions, and they immediately let the two of them in, Sarah giving them a wry smile as she stated, "I'm not fixed. I never will be. Is Toby asleep or could you bring him down to talk about this? I have a lot of crazy things to explain to you, including why I never once complained about my condition."

Her stepmother scoffed lightly and rolled her eyes, "Why you never complained about it was clear as day to us. You felt you deserved it for some absurd reason."

Sarah simply murmured, "Not so absurd as all that… But I've been assured that punishing myself so severely was overboard."

Her father spoke up then, "By your young man, I presume?"

She nodded, as did Jareth. "Yes. Considering that what I did to him was the reason for my reaction, well… Who am I to deny his truths?"

Karen smiled softly and nodded, "I approve already. She's been blaming herself over whatever it is for far too long. May we have a name yet?"

"That depends, will Toby be coming down?"

Her dad nodded, "I'll go fetch him. Introductions can be had then."

Sarah was settled on the sofa in Jareth's lap, relaxing into his warmth, when Toby came barrelling down the stairs, "Sarah! Wait a minute. It's him! It's the Goblin King! You finally called him!"

The other adults were shocked at this strange recognition and Sarah smiled indulgently at her little brother, allowing him to climb up into her lap. Jareth had always been fond of Toby and would not let the nine year old fall. "I did. As you can see, it went better than I ever dared hope."

Her brother shrewdly asked her, "Are you fixed now, or can you only touch him because of why you can touch me and our friends from the Labyrinth?"

Sarah shook her head, "I'll never be fixed again, but like I always told you, it isn't his fault. It's my own fault."

Toby nodded solemnly and asked another question, "Does this mean we can finally tell Mom and Dad about what happened, then?"

"That's exactly what I came here to do, Toby."

And that was what she did. Jareth began at the beginning, using his crystals to do things that absolutely proved to them that no matter how outrageous the tale got, their daughter and stepdaughter was telling the truth. Then Sarah slipped into her obsession with the book, her mistaken wish, her journey and the friends she made, and finally the offer at the end. "It wasn't until then that I realised that everything he said was true, that he would never have really hurt me, that he loved me… and that I loved him too, but… I wasn't even sixteen yet, even if only by a month. Jareth deserved someone grown and capable of loving him as a woman, not as a child. I was too young, and so I turned him down, and, for his own sake, claimed that he had no power over me… He tried to react with anger, but I saw that soul-deep hurt, and apparently regretted my actions so strongly that the magic he had gifted me with lashed out and I subconsciously punished myself with it."

Sarah waited for a response, but they could apparently tell that she wasn't finished yet, so she continued on with the things that she and Jareth had talked about. "In a way, I needed that punishment. Jareth isn't human, and I'm well on my way to not being human as well. Eventually, when all my ties to this world are cut, I will be living full time in the Labyrinth, which, whilst it does have residents other than the goblins, few of the humans who live there get to see their monarchs more than once every few weeks. I won't _have_ human company, and non-human beings are not as dependent on touch as we are. I won't be at risk of pain from any resident in the Goblin Kingdom or the Labyrinth, but… I'll largely be too busy ruling and helping Jareth with the Runners to get much contact from anyone excepting Jareth. And… and Toby, assuming you'll still let me visit him and you guys. I'm not ready to fully leave the Aboveground and just abandon the people who have loved and supported me through all of this.

"Jareth would be coming with me on these visits, but you don't have to worry about him with Toby – he only steals unwanted children, and gives them to welcoming homes if the Runners fail. If the Runners truly regret and honestly tried they are allowed to keep the child, but they cannot return to the Aboveground world. It's too dangerous. The Runners who didn't try are memory-erased and sent back Aboveground. I'm the first Champion of the Labyrinth, so I was returned home along with Toby."

Surprisingly, Karen was the one who spoke up after Sarah finished her little speech, smiling warmly at her, "You can visit as often as you like, sweetie. Toby would be despondent without you and I dare say you would grow despondent without him. But why would the Goblin King be coming along?"

Sarah blushed softly and Jareth nipped her nose, before responding, "I have sworn not to leave her side for at least a decade. Where she goes, I go, and vice versa. Of course, in a few years this will likely be infuriating to her, but I look forward to our arguments, as they will mean she has healed from the damage she unwittingly has done to herself. Until then, she will need my constant reassurance that I am not going to regret choosing her and that I am not going to leave her."

Dad nodded firmly at that. "Good. You chose well, Sarah. I pity you in a few years, once she is fully back to her wholly stubborn self, Goblin King."

He grinned, all sharp teeth and predatory intent as he rumbled, "I fell in love with her because of that indomitable spirit and strong will. I look forward to having my hands full, to the arguments, to her fussing at me for fussing over her. It will mean she has finally healed from her self-harm."

Karen laughed at that and hummed a bit, "You certainly must be her soul mate if you're _looking_ _forward_ to the resurgence of Difficult Sarah. Do we get to come to the wedding?"

Sarah had no idea about that, and so let Jareth answer for her. "There will be a very small Aboveground ceremony for you to attend – only humans who are going to stay in the Underground – aside from Runners who have to be sent back – can come to the Underground, unless they win against the Labyrinth. Even with my blatant cheating, Precious here is the first person to ever complete it. She is the Labyrinth's chosen Champion. Underground will be a wedding and coronation combined, but not until after a long engagement. Sarah needs to know more about what she has gotten herself into and healed from her trauma before I put her through all that. Toby, by the way, already knows how to get a hold of us for whenever he wants visits or if you need us to watch over him because you need to be gone, and if he ever blames things on the goblins-"

Her father nodded, "Toby is careful of his things, and always accepts blame for his mistakes, so if he says the goblins did it, I'd be tempted to believe him even without knowing this."

Jareth nodded back. "There is no guarantee that they will begin to stick around with him, but they always stuck closer to Sarah than normal when Toby was around, and I'm fairly certain that only feeling the need to watch over Sarah regularly has prevented them from becoming permanent playmates of his. They always were fond of him."

Then he unexpectedly turned to Toby and nodded at him, "I expect for you to continue to be an obedient boy like your sister wants you to be and to try and clean up after your friends when they visit. Don't let them run around the house or they'll play with and possibly break everything they can get their grubby little hands on."

Toby nodded solemnly, "Yes, sir. I won't let Sarah down, or let you down either."

Sarah smiled and ruffled his hair fondly. That was her Toby. He'd grown up into a remarkably unspoiled and serious child, but one who firmly knew magic existed, and the importance of being careful with his wishes. More often than not, he didn't actually make a wish when he blew out the candles on his birthday cake, and when he did, it was always something that would benefit someone else.

Jareth let time begin again – he'd stopped it at the beginning of this conversation – and smiled sharply to Karen and Robert, firmly reminding them that he wasn't human. "You still have ten minutes until it is necessary to depart, although you can of course depart any time you wish with no hard feelings. We _have_ spent quite some time talking after all."

They decided to leave then, and once Sarah and Jareth took turns telling Toby stories until he fell asleep, Jareth unerringly led her to her bedroom, where he had already placed their bag. As Sarah slid into her bed, Jareth moments behind her and soon pressing their bodies together in a somehow elegant tangle of limbs, Sarah sighed, "That went far better than I expected."

Her beloved huffed lightly, "I was not about to let that encounter go wrong. That entire room was saturated with magic that made them more inclined to believe whatever they are told and less inclined to react drastically to anything unusual. It lasts until they are truly comfortable with these items and then dissipates – harmless, but absolutely necessary in this case. I want for you to have a full life, Precious, and that means not having to lie to your family about anything. The same goes for Toby."

Sarah sighed and nestled closer into his chest, wrapping her arms around his as he held her tightly to him, their legs entangled together closely. "Thank you, then. Even if I was already recovered I would have thanked you, despite not asking. I didn't want to be hiding anything from them."

He nuzzled her ear and licked over the edge of it, making her shudder as his large hands splayed across her flat stomach, fingers curling over her sides possessively. Jareth had been completely chaste their first night together, but now he was slowly beginning to seduce her, and Sarah was loving every second of it. It made her feel alive in a way nothing else had ever done for her, and she absolutely adored feeling wanted and lusted after by her beloved. "You're welcome, Precious."

His breath as he said that ghosted over the wet edge of her ear, making her shiver and gasp softly. It was strange how he knew her body in and out already – even Sarah had no idea what she enjoyed, but Jareth already seemed to know all of the things she liked the best. She looked forward to learning him in the same way so that eventually she could get payback.

That, however, was for later, and as Jareth kissed her shoulder and bit it lightly, she sighed and closed her eyes. They had an eternity together to work things out, and Sarah somehow knew that the Labyrinth itself would ensure that they got their happily ever after – which truly would be an "ever after," as they had forever… Which, really, was not long at all.


End file.
